Category Archives: Futurist

Artistic and social movement

Futurism (Italian: Futurismo) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. Its key figures were the Italians Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Fortunato Depero, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, and Luigi Russolo. It glorified modernity and aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past.[1] Cubism contributed to the formation of Italian Futurism's artistic style.[2] Important Futurist works included Marinetti's Manifesto of Futurism, Boccioni's sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, Balla's painting Abstract Speed + Sound, and Russolo's The Art of Noises.

Although it was largely an Italian phenomenon, there were parallel movements in Russia, where some Russian Futurists would later go on to found groups of their own; other countries either had a few Futurists or had movements inspired by Futurism. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture, and even cooking.

To some extent Futurism influenced the art movements Art Deco, Constructivism, Surrealism, and Dada, and to a greater degree Precisionism, Rayonism, and Vorticism.

Futurism is an avant-garde movement founded in Milan in 1909 by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.[1] Marinetti launched the movement in his Manifesto of Futurism,[3] which he published for the first time on 5 February 1909 in La gazzetta dell'Emilia, an article then reproduced in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro on Saturday 20 February 1909.[4][5][6] He was soon joined by the painters Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini and the composer Luigi Russolo. Marinetti expressed a passionate loathing of everything old, especially political and artistic tradition. "We want no part of it, the past", he wrote, "we the young and strong Futurists!" The Futurists admired speed, technology, youth and violence, the car, the airplane and the industrial city, all that represented the technological triumph of humanity over nature, and they were passionate nationalists. They repudiated the cult of the past and all imitation, praised originality, "however daring, however violent", bore proudly "the smear of madness", dismissed art critics as useless, rebelled against harmony and good taste, swept away all the themes and subjects of all previous art, and gloried in science.

Publishing manifestos was a feature of Futurism, and the Futurists (usually led or prompted by Marinetti) wrote them on many topics, including painting, architecture, music, literature, photography, religion, women, fashion and cuisine.[7][8]

The founding manifesto did not contain a positive artistic programme, which the Futurists attempted to create in their subsequent Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting (published in Italian as a leaflet by Poesia, Milan, 11 April 1910).[9] This committed them to a "universal dynamism", which was to be directly represented in painting. Objects in reality were not separate from one another or from their surroundings: "The sixteen people around you in a rolling motor bus are in turn and at the same time one, ten four three; they are motionless and they change places. ... The motor bus rushes into the houses which it passes, and in their turn the houses throw themselves upon the motor bus and are blended with it."[10]

The Futurist painters were slow to develop a distinctive style and subject matter. In 1910 and 1911 they used the techniques of Divisionism, breaking light and color down into a field of stippled dots and stripes, which had been adopted from Divisionism by Giovanni Segantini and others. Later, Severini, who lived in Paris, attributed their backwardness in style and method at this time to their distance from Paris, the centre of avant-garde art.[11] Severini was the first to come into contact with Cubism and following a visit to Paris in 1911 the Futurist painters adopted the methods of the Cubists. Cubism offered them a means of analysing energy in paintings and expressing dynamism.

They often painted modern urban scenes. Carr's Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (191011) is a large canvas representing events that the artist had himself been involved in, in 1904. The action of a police attack and riot is rendered energetically with diagonals and broken planes. His Leaving the Theatre (191011) uses a Divisionist technique to render isolated and faceless figures trudging home at night under street lights.

Boccioni's The City Rises (1910) represents scenes of construction and manual labour with a huge, rearing red horse in the centre foreground, which workmen struggle to control. His States of Mind, in three large panels, The Farewell, Those who Go, and Those Who Stay, "made his first great statement of Futurist painting, bringing his interests in Bergson, Cubism and the individual's complex experience of the modern world together in what has been described as one of the 'minor masterpieces' of early twentieth century painting."[12] The work attempts to convey feelings and sensations experienced in time, using new means of expression, including "lines of force", which were intended to convey the directional tendencies of objects through space, "simultaneity", which combined memories, present impressions and anticipation of future events, and "emotional ambience" in which the artist seeks by intuition to link sympathies between the exterior scene and interior emotion.[12]

Boccioni's intentions in art were strongly influenced by the ideas of Bergson, including the idea of intuition, which Bergson defined as a simple, indivisible experience of sympathy through which one is moved into the inner being of an object to grasp what is unique and ineffable within it. The Futurists aimed through their art thus to enable the viewer to apprehend the inner being of what they depicted. Boccioni developed these ideas at length in his book, Pittura scultura Futuriste: Dinamismo plastico (Futurist Painting Sculpture: Plastic Dynamism) (1914).[13]

Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) exemplifies the Futurists' insistence that the perceived world is in constant movement. The painting depicts a dog whose legs, tail and leashand the feet of the woman walking ithave been multiplied to a blur of movement. It illustrates the precepts of the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting that, "On account of the persistency of an image upon the retina, moving objects constantly multiply themselves; their form changes like rapid vibrations, in their mad career. Thus a running horse has not four legs, but twenty, and their movements are triangular."[10] His Rhythm of the Bow (1912) similarly depicts the movements of a violinist's hand and instrument, rendered in rapid strokes within a triangular frame.

The adoption of Cubism determined the style of much subsequent Futurist painting, which Boccioni and Severini in particular continued to render in the broken colors and short brush-strokes of divisionism. But Futurist painting differed in both subject matter and treatment from the quiet and static Cubism of Picasso, Braque and Gris. As the art critic Robert Hughes observed, "In Futurism, the eye is fixed and the object moves, but it is still the basic vocabulary of Cubismfragmented and overlapping planes".[14] While there were Futurist portraits: Carr's Woman with Absinthe (1911), Severini's Self-Portrait (1912), and Boccioni's Matter (1912), it was the urban scene and vehicles in motion that typified Futurist painting; Boccioni's The Street Enters the House (1911), Severini's Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin (1912), and Russolo's Automobile at Speed (1913)

The Futurists held their first exhibition outside of Italy in 1912 at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, Paris, which included works by Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini, Carlo Carr, Luigi Russolo and Giacomo Balla.[15][16]

In 1912 and 1913, Boccioni turned to sculpture to translate into three dimensions his Futurist ideas. In Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) he attempted to realise the relationship between the object and its environment, which was central to his theory of "dynamism". The sculpture represents a striding figure, cast in bronze posthumously and exhibited in the Tate Modern. (It now appears on the national side of Italian 20 eurocent coins). He explored the theme further in Synthesis of Human Dynamism (1912), Speeding Muscles (1913) and Spiral Expansion of Speeding Muscles (1913). His ideas on sculpture were published in the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture[17] In 1915 Balla also turned to sculpture making abstract "reconstructions", which were created out of various materials, were apparently moveable and even made noises. He said that, after making twenty pictures in which he had studied the velocity of automobiles, he understood that "the single plane of the canvas did not permit the suggestion of the dynamic volume of speed in depth ... I felt the need to construct the first dynamic plastic complex with iron wires, cardboard planes, cloth and tissue paper, etc."[18]

In 1914, personal quarrels and artistic differences between the Milan group, around Marinetti, Boccioni, and Balla, and the Florence group, around Carr, Ardengo Soffici (18791964) and Giovanni Papini (18811956), created a rift in Italian Futurism. The Florence group resented the dominance of Marinetti and Boccioni, whom they accused of trying to establish "an immobile church with an infallible creed", and each group dismissed the other as passiste.

Futurism had from the outset admired violence and was intensely patriotic. The Futurist Manifesto had declared, "We will glorify warthe world's only hygienemilitarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman."[6][19] Although it owed much of its character and some of its ideas to radical political movements, it was not much involved in politics until the autumn of 1913.[18] Then, fearing the re-election of Giolitti, Marinetti published a political manifesto. In 1914 the Futurists began to campaign actively against the Austro-Hungarian empire, which still controlled some Italian territories, and Italian neutrality between the major powers. In September, Boccioni, seated in the balcony of the Teatro dal Verme in Milan, tore up an Austrian flag and threw it into the audience, while Marinetti waved an Italian flag. When Italy entered the First World War in 1915, many Futurists enlisted.[20] The experience of the war marked several Futurists, particularly Marinetti, who fought in the mountains of Trentino at the border of Italy and Austria-Hungary, actively engaging in propaganda.[21] The combat experience also influenced Futurist music.[22]

The outbreak of war disguised the fact that Italian Futurism had come to an end. The Florence group had formally acknowledged their withdrawal from the movement by the end of 1914. Boccioni produced only one war picture and was killed in 1916. Severini painted some significant war pictures in 1915 (e.g. War, Armored Train, and Red Cross Train), but in Paris turned towards Cubism and post-war was associated with the Return to Order.

After the war, Marinetti revived the movement. This revival was called il secondo Futurismo (Second Futurism) by writers in the 1960s. The art historian Giovanni Lista has classified Futurism by decades: "Plastic Dynamism" for the first decade, "Mechanical Art" for the 1920s, "Aeroaesthetics" for the 1930s.

Russian Futurism was a movement of literature and the visual arts, involving various Futurist groups. The poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was a prominent member of the movement, as were Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchyonykh; visual artists such as David Burliuk, Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Lyubov Popova, and Kazimir Malevich found inspiration in the imagery of Futurist writings, and were writers themselves. Poets and painters collaborated on theatre production such as the Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun, with texts by Kruchenykh, music by Mikhail Matyushin, and sets by Malevich.

The main style of painting was Cubo-Futurism, extant during the 1910s. Cubo-Futurism combines the forms of Cubism with the Futurist representation of movement; like their Italian contemporaries, the Russian Futurists were fascinated with dynamism, speed and the restlessness of modern urban life.

The Russian Futurists sought controversy by repudiating the art of the past, saying that Pushkin and Dostoevsky should be "heaved overboard from the steamship of modernity". They acknowledged no authority and professed not to owe anything even to Marinetti, whose principles they had earlier adopted, most of whom obstructed him when he came to Russia to proselytize in 1914.

The movement began to decline after the revolution of 1917. The Futurists either stayed, were persecuted, or left the country. Popova, Mayakovsky and Malevich became part of the Soviet establishment and the brief Agitprop movement of the 1920s; Popova died of a fever, Malevich would be briefly imprisoned and forced to paint in the new state-approved style, and Mayakovsky committed suicide on April 14, 1930.

The Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia expressed his ideas of modernity in his drawings for La Citt Nuova (The New City) (19121914). This project was never built and Sant'Elia was killed in the First World War, but his ideas influenced later generations of architects and artists. The city was a backdrop onto which the dynamism of Futurist life is projected. The city had replaced the landscape as the setting for the exciting modern life. Sant'Elia aimed to create a city as an efficient, fast-paced machine. He manipulates light and shape to emphasize the sculptural quality of his projects. Baroque curves and encrustations had been stripped away to reveal the essential lines of forms unprecedented from their simplicity. In the new city, every aspect of life was to be rationalized and centralized into one great powerhouse of energy. The city was not meant to last, and each subsequent generation was expected to build their own city rather than inheriting the architecture of the past.

Futurist architects were sometimes at odds with the Fascist state's tendency towards Roman imperial-classical aesthetic patterns. Nevertheless, several Futurist buildings were built in the years 19201940, including public buildings such as railway stations, maritime resorts and post offices. Examples of Futurist buildings still in use today are Trento's railway station, built by Angiolo Mazzoni, and the Santa Maria Novella station in Florence. The Florence station was designed in 1932 by the Gruppo Toscano (Tuscan Group) of architects, which included Giovanni Michelucci and Italo Gamberini, with contributions by Mazzoni.

Futurist music rejected tradition and introduced experimental sounds inspired by machinery, and would influence several 20th-century composers.

Francesco Balilla Pratella joined the Futurist movement in 1910 and wrote a Manifesto of Futurist Musicians in which he appealed to the young (as had Marinetti), because only they could understand what he had to say. According to Pratella, Italian music was inferior to music abroad. He praised the "sublime genius" of Wagner and saw some value in the work of other contemporary composers, for example Richard Strauss, Elgar, Mussorgsky, and Sibelius. By contrast, the Italian symphony was dominated by opera in an "absurd and anti-musical form". The conservatories was said to encourage backwardness and mediocrity. The publishers perpetuated mediocrity and the domination of music by the "rickety and vulgar" operas of Puccini and Umberto Giordano. The only Italian Pratella could praise was his teacher Pietro Mascagni, because he had rebelled against the publishers and attempted innovation in opera, but even Mascagni was too traditional for Pratella's tastes. In the face of this mediocrity and conservatism, Pratella unfurled "the red flag of Futurism, calling to its flaming symbol such young composers as have hearts to love and fight, minds to conceive, and brows free of cowardice."

Luigi Russolo (18851947) wrote The Art of Noises (1913),[23][24] an influential text in 20th-century musical aesthetics. Russolo used instruments he called intonarumori, which were acoustic noise generators that permitted the performer to create and control the dynamics and pitch of several different types of noises. Russolo and Marinetti gave the first concert of Futurist music, complete with intonarumori, in 1914. However they were prevented from performing in many major European cities by the outbreak of war.

Futurism was one of several 20th-century movements in art music that paid homage to, included or imitated machines. Ferruccio Busoni has been seen as anticipating some Futurist ideas, though he remained wedded to tradition.[25] Russolo's intonarumori influenced Stravinsky, Arthur Honegger, George Antheil, Edgar Varse,[12] Stockhausen and John Cage. In Pacific 231, Honegger imitated the sound of a steam locomotive. There are also Futurist elements in Prokofiev's The Steel Step and in his Second Symphony.

Most notable in this respect, however, is the American George Antheil. His fascination with machinery is evident in his Airplane Sonata, Death of the Machines, and the 30-minute Ballet Mcanique. The Ballet Mcanique was originally intended to accompany an experimental film by Fernand Lger, but the musical score is twice the length of the film and now stands alone. The score calls for a percussion ensemble consisting of three xylophones, four bass drums, a tam-tam, three airplane propellers, seven electric bells, a siren, two "live pianists", and sixteen synchronized player pianos. Antheil's piece was the first to synchronize machines with human players and to exploit the difference between what machines and humans can play.

The Futuristic movement also influenced the concept of dance. Indeed, dancing was interpreted as an alternative way of expressing man's ultimate fusion with the machine. The altitude of a flying plane, the power of a car's motor and the roaring loud sounds of complex machinery were all signs of man's intelligence and excellence which the art of dance had to emphasize and praise. This type of dance is considered futuristic since it disrupts the referential system of traditional, classical dance and introduces a different style, new to the sophisticated bourgeois audience. The dancer no longer performs a story, a clear content, that can be read according to the rules of ballet. One of the most famous futuristic dancers was the Italian Giannina Censi[it]. Trained as a classical ballerina, she is known for her "Aerodanze" and continued to earn her living by performing in classical and popular productions. She describes this innovative form of dance as the result of a deep collaboration with Marinetti and his poetry. Through these words, she explains: " I launched this idea of the aerial-futurist poetry with Marinetti, he himself declaiming the poetry. A small stage of a few square meters;... I made myself a satin costume with a helmet; everything that the plane did had to be expressed by my body. It flew and, moreover, it gave the impression of these wings that trembled, of the apparatus that trembled,... And the face had to express what the pilot felt."[26][27]

Futurism as a literary movement made its official debut with F.T. Marinetti's Manifesto of Futurism (1909), as it delineated the various ideals Futurist poetry should strive for. Poetry, the predominate medium of Futurist literature, can be characterized by its unexpected combinations of images and hyper-conciseness (not to be confused with the actual length of the poem). The Futurists called their style of poetry parole in libert (word autonomy), in which all ideas of meter were rejected and the word became the main unit of concern. In this way, the Futurists managed to create a new language free of syntax punctuation, and metrics that allowed for free expression.

Theater also has an important place within the Futurist universe. Works in this genre have scenes that are few sentences long, have an emphasis on nonsensical humor, and attempt to discredit the deep rooted traditions via parody and other devaluation techniques.There are a number of examples of Futurist novels from both the initial period of Futurism and the neo-Futurist period, from Marinetti himself to a number of lesser known Futurists, such as Primo Conti, Ardengo Soffici and Giordano Bruno Sanzin (Zig Zag, Il Romanzo Futurista edited by Alessandro Masi, 1995). They are very diverse in style, with very little recourse to the characteristics of Futurist Poetry, such as 'parole in libert'. Arnaldo Ginna's 'Le locomotive con le calze'(Trains with socks on) plunges into a world of absurd nonsense, childishly crude. His brother Bruno Corra wrote in Sam Dunn morto (Sam Dunn is Dead) a masterpiece of Futurist fiction, in a genre he himself called 'Synthetic' characterized by compression, and precision; it is a sophisticated piece that rises above the other novels through the strength and pervasiveness of its irony. Science Fiction novels play an important role in Futurist literature.[28]

When interviewed about her favorite film of all times,[29] famed movie critic Pauline Kael stated that the director Dimitri Kirsanoff, in his silent experimental film Mnilmontant "developed a technique that suggests the movement known in painting as Futurism".[30]

Thas ("Thas"), directed by Anton Giulio Bragaglia (1917), is the only surviving of the 1910s Italian futurist cinema to date (35 min. of the original 70 min.). [31]

Within F.T. Marinetti's The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, two of his tenets briefly highlight his hatred for women under the pretense that it fuels the Futurist movement's visceral nature:

9. We intend to glorify warthe only hygiene of the worldmilitarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of anarchists, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and contempt for woman.10. We intend to destroy museums, libraries, academics of every sort and to fight against moralism, feminism, and every utilitarian opportunistic cowardice.[3]

Marinetti would begin to contradict himself when, in 1911, he called Luisa, Marchesa Casati a Futurist; he dedicated a portrait of himself painted by Carr to her, the said dedication declaring Casati as a Futurist being pasted on the canvas itself.[32]

In 1912, only three years after the Manifesto of Futurism was published, Valentine de Saint-Point responded to Marinetti's claims in her Manifesto of the Futurist Woman (Response to F.T. Marinetti.) Marinetti even later referred to her as "the 'first futurist woman.'"[33] Her manifesto begins with a misanthropic tone by presenting how men and women are equal and both deserve contempt.[34] She instead suggests that rather than the binary being limited to men and women, it should be replaced with "femininity and masculinity"; ample cultures and individuals should possess elements of both.[34] Yet, she still embraces the core values of Futurism, especially its focus on "virility" and "brutality". Saint-Point uses this as a segue into her antifeminist argumentgiving women equal rights destroys their innate "potency" to strive for a better, more fulfilling life.[34]

In Russian Futurist and Cubo-Futurist circles, however, from the start, there was a higher percentage of women participants than in Italy; exmples of major female Futurists are Natalia Goncharova, Aleksandra Ekster, and Lyubov Popova. Although Marinetti expressed his approval of Olga Rozanova's paintings during his 1914 lecture tour of Russia, it is possible that the women painters' negative reaction to the said tour may have largely been due to his misogyny.

Despite the chauvinistic nature of the Italian Futurist program, many serious professional female artists adopted the style, especially so after the end of the first World War. Notably among these female futurists is F.T Marinetti's own wife Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, whom he had met in 1918 and exchanged a series of letters discussing each of their respective work in Futurism. Letters continued to be exchanged between the two with F.T Marinetti often complimenting Benedetta - the single name she was best known as - on her genius. In a letter dated August 16, 1919, Marinetti wrote to Benedetta "Do not forget your promise to work. You must carry your genius to its ultimate splendor. Every day."[35] Although many of Benedetta's paintings were exhibited in major Italian exhibitions like the 1930-1936 Venice Biennales (in which she was the first woman to have her art displayed since the exhibition's founding in 1895[36]), the 1935 Rome Quadriennale and several other futurist exhibitions, she was oft overshadowed in her work by her husband. The first introduction of Benedetta's feminist convictions regarding futurism is in the form of a public dialogue in 1925 (with a L.R Cannonieri) concerning the role of women in society.[36] Benedetta was also one of the first to paint in Aeropittura, an abstract and futurist art style of landscape from the view of an airplane.

Many Italian Futurists supported Fascism in the hope of modernizing a country divided between the industrialising north and the rural, archaic South. Like the Fascists, the Futurists were Italian nationalists, radicals, admirers of violence, and were opposed to parliamentary democracy. Marinetti founded the Futurist Political Party (Partito Politico Futurista) in early 1918, which was absorbed into Benito Mussolini's Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in 1919, making Marinetti one of the first members of the National Fascist Party. He opposed Fascism's later exaltation of existing institutions, calling them "reactionary", and walked out of the 1920 Fascist party congress in disgust, withdrawing from politics for three years; but he supported Italian Fascism until his death in 1944. The Futurists' association with Fascism after its triumph in 1922 brought them official acceptance in Italy and the ability to carry out important work, especially in architecture. After the Second World War, many Futurist artists had difficulty in their careers because of their association with a defeated and discredited regime.

Marinetti sought to make Futurism the official state art of Fascist Italy but failed to do so. Mussolini chose to give patronage to numerous styles and movements in order to keep artists loyal to the regime. Opening the exhibition of art by the Novecento Italiano group in 1923, he said, "I declare that it is far from my idea to encourage anything like a state art. Art belongs to the domain of the individual. The state has only one duty: not to undermine art, to provide humane conditions for artists, to encourage them from the artistic and national point of view."[37] Mussolini's mistress, Margherita Sarfatti, who was as able a cultural entrepreneur as Marinetti, successfully promoted the rival Novecento group, and even persuaded Marinetti to sit on its board. Although in the early years of Italian Fascism modern art was tolerated and even embraced, towards the end of the 1930s, right-wing Fascists introduced the concept of "degenerate art" from Germany to Italy and condemned Futurism.

Marinetti made numerous moves to ingratiate himself with the regime, becoming less radical and avant-garde with each. He moved from Milan to Rome to be nearer the centre of things. He became an academician despite his condemnation of academies, married despite his condemnation of marriage, promoted religious art after the Lateran Treaty of 1929 and even reconciled himself to the Catholic Church, declaring that Jesus was a Futurist.

Although Futurism mostly became identified with Fascism, it had leftist and anti-Fascist supporters. They tended to oppose Marinetti's artistic and political direction of the movement, and in 1924 the socialists, communists and anarchists walked out of the Milan Futurist Congress. The anti-Fascist voices in Futurism were not completely silenced until the annexation of Abyssinia and the Italo-German Pact of Steel in 1939.[38] This association of Fascists, socialists and anarchists in the Futurist movement, which may seem odd today, can be understood in terms of the influence of Georges Sorel, whose ideas about the regenerative effect of political violence had adherents right across the political spectrum.

Aeropainting (aeropittura) was a major expression of the second generation of Futurism beginning in 1926. The technology and excitement of flight, directly experienced by most aeropainters,[39] offered aeroplanes and aerial landscape as new subject matter. Aeropainting was varied in subject matter and treatment, including realism (especially in works of propaganda), abstraction, dynamism, quiet Umbrian landscapes,[40] portraits of Mussolini (e.g. Dottori's Portrait of il Duce), devotional religious paintings, decorative art, and pictures of planes.

Aeropainting was launched in a manifesto of 1929, Perspectives of Flight, signed by Benedetta, Depero, Dottori, Filla, Marinetti, Prampolini, Somenzi and Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni). The artists stated that "The changing perspectives of flight constitute an absolutely new reality that has nothing in common with the reality traditionally constituted by a terrestrial perspective" and that "Painting from this new reality requires a profound contempt for detail and a need to synthesise and transfigure everything." Crispolti identifies three main "positions" in aeropainting: "a vision of cosmic projection, at its most typical in Prampolini's 'cosmic idealism' ...; a 'reverie' of aerial fantasies sometimes verging on fairy-tale (for example in Dottori ...); and a kind of aeronautical documentarism that comes dizzyingly close to direct celebration of machinery (particularly in Crali, but also in Tato and Ambrosi)."[41]

Eventually there were over a hundred aeropainters. Major figures include Fortunato Depero, Marisa Mori, Enrico Prampolini, Gerardo Dottori and Crali. Crali continued to produce aeropittura up until the 1980s.

Futurism influenced many other twentieth-century art movements, including Art Deco, Vorticism, Constructivism, Surrealism, Dada, and much later Neo-Futurism[42][43] and the Grosvenor School linocut artists.[44] Futurism as a coherent and organized artistic movement is now regarded as extinct, having died out in 1944 with the death of its leader Marinetti.

Nonetheless, the ideals of Futurism remain as significant components of modern Western culture; the emphasis on youth, speed, power and technology finding expression in much of modern commercial cinema and culture. Ridley Scott consciously evoked the designs of Sant'Elia in Blade Runner. Echoes of Marinetti's thought, especially his "dreamt-of metallization of the human body", are still strongly prevalent in Japanese culture, and surface in manga/anime and the works of artists such as Shinya Tsukamoto, director of the Tetsuo (lit. "Ironman") films. Futurism has produced several reactions, including the literary genre of cyberpunkin which technology was often treated with a critical eyewhilst artists who came to prominence during the first flush of the Internet, such as Stelarc and Mariko Mori, produce work which comments on Futurist ideals. and the art and architecture movement Neo-Futurism in which technology is considered a driver to a better quality of life and sustainability values.[45][46]

A revival of sorts of the Futurist movement in theatre began in 1988 with the creation of the Neo-Futurist style in Chicago, which utilizes Futurism's focus on speed and brevity to create a new form of immediate theatre. Currently, there are active Neo-Futurist troupes in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Montreal.[47]

Futurist ideas have been a major influence in Western popular music; examples include ZTT Records, named after Marinetti's poem Zang Tumb Tumb; the band Art of Noise, named after Russolo's manifesto The Art of Noises; and the Adam and the Ants single "Zerox", the cover featuring a photograph by Bragaglia. Influences can also be discerned in dance music since the 1980s.[48]

Japanese Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's 1986 album "Futurista" was inspired by the movement. It features a speech from Tommaso Marinetti in the track 'Variety Show'.[49]

In 2009, Italian director Marco Bellocchio included Futurist art in his feature film Vincere.[50]

In 2014, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum featured the exhibition "Italian Futurism, 19091944: Reconstructing the Universe".[51] This was the first comprehensive overview of Italian Futurism to be presented in the United States.[52]

Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is a museum in London, with a collection solely centered around modern Italian artists and their works. It is best known for its large collection of Futurist paintings.

Photos, in descending order: Carlo Carr, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Luigi Russolo. Paintings, in descending order: Luigi Russolo, 1911, Souvenir d'un nuit, 1911-12, La rvolte (two versions are depicted here); Umberto Boccioni, 1912, Le rire; Gino Severini, 1911, La danseuse obsedante. Published in The Sun, 25 February 1912

Paintings by Gino Severini, 1911, La Danse du Pan-Pan, and Severini, 1913, L'autobus. Published in Les Annales politiques et littraires, Le Paradoxe Cubiste, 14 March 1920

Paintings by Gino Severini, 1911, Souvenirs de Voyage; Albert Gleizes, 1912, Man on a Balcony, L'Homme au balcon; Severini, 191213, Portrait de Mlle Jeanne Paul-Fort; Luigi Russolo, 191112, La Rvolte. Published in Les Annales politiques et littraires, Le Paradoxe Cubiste (continued), n. 1916, 14 March 1920

This is a partial list of people involved with the Futurist movement.

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3.5mm TRS Midi In/Out connect directly to devices that use a TRS connection for MIDI and can be used with adapters to connect to inch MIDI connections.

5 pin Midi In/Out Connect to devices that use the traditional 5 pin midi connector. The jack can be internally set to be an In or Out connection with dip switches. Default set to output.

Utility JackConfigurable to send analog tap tempo signals or as a latching or momentary switch.

Control Jack Plug in an expression pedal to dynamically send Control Change messages over MIDI or configure the jack to accept 3 additional switches to expand the functionality of the futurist.

Launching with The Futurist is our own Matthews Effects Editor software that comes packed full of features to make your life with MIDI as easy and effective as possible!

Organize Patches Fully edit any patch from any bank on the Futurist and edit each patches 16 messages and patch specific Expression, Utility Jack and MIDI Clock settings from the comfort of your computer.

Smart Editor Wizard- Programming MIDI has never been easier or more accessible! Simply choose the Make, Product, the action you want to take, program and it will automatically generate the needed message! Let us worry about how MIDI works so you can focus on creating music!

Global Settings Control Adjust all global settings and features on the Futurist from your computer.

Custom Messages Save messages into custom slots with unique names to quickly program your favorite functions eliminating the need to constantly look them up when programming a new patch. Edit the custom messages on your device and keep an expanded list saved in the Matthews Effects editor software on your computer.

Share Patches and Custom Messages Export and share your patches and custom messages with the community and help us make MIDI even more accessible to everyone!

Update Firmware Use the Matthews Effects Editor to update your devices firmware.

LEDS Indicates which patch was selected last or will display the tap BPM.

Switch 1 Activates the first patch of each bank, Bank Up/Bank Down when held down or (pressed in conjunction with Switch 4) open Main Settings Menu. When inside menus, Switch 1 will scroll/move you left or decrease your menu selection.

Switch 2 Activates the second patch of each bank.When inside menus, Switch 2 will cancel the selection, move back to previous menu, or exit to home screen if in the main menu.

Switch 3 Activates the third patch of each bank. When inside menus, Switch 3 will move you right or increase your menu selection.

Switch 4 Activates the fourth patch of each bank. When inside menus, Switch 4 is used to enter different menus or confirm values/options.

Rick Matthews obsesses over every last detail in creating the highest quality and intuitive pedals available. This commitment to excellence is on full display with The Futurist. Rick personally spent months engineering and tailoring the Futurist to make it the most accessible midi controller on the market.

Read more here:
The Futurist Controller - Matthews Effects

David Houle| Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Last fall I had a couple of Zoom calls with two futurists for whom I have a great deal of respect.We talked about what we saw going on in the world, what the lasting effect of the global pandemic might be and what is ahead for this decade.We all came to an agreement that one of the great futurists we all read years ago, and have come back to for wisdom, hadsuccinctly suggested where in fact we are right now, 50 years ago.

R. Buckminster Fuller,inventor of the geodesic domeand several other spectacular things, wrote a book in 1969 called Utopia or Oblivion: the Prospects for Humanity.In it he suggested that in several decades humanity would come to a fork in the road, the two roads being utopia and abundance on one side and a mindless road to oblivion on the other.

Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment … Humanity is in a final exam as to whether or not it qualifies for continuance in the Universe, wrote Fuller.

The three of us Gerd Leonhard (futuristgerd.com/),Glen Hiemstra (futurist.com/), and I all saw that the decade of the 2020s wasthe fork in the road that Fuller wrote about more than 50 years ago.

As futurists who peer into the future for a living, study macro-trends and arcs of history into the present, we all see this decade as the chance to fully, proactively create the road to the future that we want, rather than unknowingly, mindlessly heading down a road to a more dystopic future.Not that we are in the last stages of anything but rather that so many big, rapidly developing dynamics will occur this decade that we must collectively face them to shape them into the good future we want for ourselves and our children and grandchildren.

We wrote the #forkintheroadproject Manifesto and put it up on our new website. On the websiteforkintheroadproject.comyou can read the manifesto, read about the three of us, read our blog and also see the presentation that was made at our first global Zoom call.This first meeting of the #forkintheroadproject collective had futurists from the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., Spain, South Africa and Brazil.In addition, there were a couple of noted science fiction writers, media executives, producers, and thought leaders.

We all understand the longer-term consequences. We all see that if humanity wants a future that is positive, places humanity first, faces the immediate-to-long-term threat of the climate crisis and undertakes an inclusive discussion about the future of technological intelligence, genetic modification, the reinvention of capitalism to align with the realities of the 21st century, we must act with urgency between now and 2030.

We admire and acknowledgesuch organizations as the U.N, the World Economic Forum, the B Team, Singularity University and the Millennium Project (whose executive director is an initial signer of our manifesto), that see the need for massive reorganization of how economics and humanity currently existon Earth as soon as possible.We cheer them on and see many well-intentioned efforts underway. Many of these groups are well-funded and staffed with brilliant people who see the current problems and endeavor to fix them.

We see the #forkintheroadproject as a call to action, an understood metaphor, a story to be told and a meme that can raise awareness the fork in the road on every major issue facing humanity.As futurists we are not about solving problems and building organizations.We are about seeing the trends, the dynamics, the forces at play that are ahead of us all.We see that humanity is at one of itsmost critical junctures in history.As people who look at the arcs of history and project them into the future, we see that this decade, these nine years to 2030 is the time when the decision will be made consciously or ignorantly.

We have set up a second meeting of the collective for later this month.We have invited additional futurists, media people, science fiction writers and thought leaders to it.At this stage the three initiators are looking for feedback, suggestions, commitments to action and generally to discuss how the #forkintheroadproject can be amplified, gain traction and begin to raise awareness that a true sense of urgency is needed.There are a number of huge issues facing humanity, many of which need to be addressed soon.

While many forces challenge the future, we recognize these 4 overarching issues:

Please visit the website, read the manifesto (forkintheroadproject.com/manifesto),read and view other contentand if you are moved or in agreement with us, there are several things you can do.You can sign the manifesto, sign up for the newsletter, fill out a form if youor the organization you are with might want to get involved, and finally start to spread the word by using the hashtag #forkintheroadproject.

Time is of the essence.Urgency is called for.Thank you!

Sarasota resident David Houle is a globally recognized futurist. He has given speeches on six continents, written seven books and is futurist in residence at the Ringling College of Art + Design. His website is davidhoule.com. Email him at david@davidhoule.com.

Original post:
FUTURIST: Arriving at a global fork in the road - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Jetsons universe is closer to becoming reality as a partnership of two European aviation companies wants to launch an air taxi service in Palm Beach County.

Picture a stark white, space-age airplane with an almond-shaped body and four serrated wings. Inside those wings are 36 all-electric engines, or ducted fans. When vertical, the fans help the jet gently take off or land, capable of hovering like an osprey; when the fans are tilted horizontally, they propel the plane forward.

The companies Lilium, a Germany-based aviation company manufacturing these airplanes, and Ferrovial, a Spanish company that develops and maintains airports like Heathrow in London pitched their proposal to county commissioners on Tuesday, selling Palm Beach International Airport as part of its proposed Florida network for eVOTL vehicles, which stands for electric vertical take-off and landing.

More: Traffic sensitive red lights, bus lanes? Palm Beach County may float a transportation tax

Even though Lilium has yet to get FAA certification for its aircraft, Palm Beach County commissioners are keen on their idea.

"I think this is an exciting prospect and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to see this in action," Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth said.

The Lilium Jet, which isn't technically a jet, can fit up to four passengers and a pilot, with a range of more than 155 miles on a single charge. Standing 30 feet away from the aircraft, it sounds about as loud as a car driving past, the company said. Overall, it's also about 50 percent quieter than a single-aisle commercial jet.

The nations first vertiport, an airport for eVOTLs, is already in the works. Last November, Lilium announced it was partnering with the city of Orlando and a Lake Nona developer after the city offered almost $1 million in tax incentives, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Commissioners appeared split on whether they would be interested in giving any financial or tax incentives to Lilium or Ferrovial, but a formal lease agreement would return to them at a later date.

More: Palm Beach County isn't done fighting for jet ban at Lantana airport

"This is pretty phenomenal, certainly putting Palm Beach County on the cutting edge of technology along with the Lake Nona region in Orlando," Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said.

The companies want to propose vertiport locations in Melbourne, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, Miami and The Keys.

The network will serve to connect Central and South Florida, said Will Nicholas, Lilium's head of launch and infrastructure development.

"I feel the population centers are very isolated, and (this service will be) providing new access beyond 95, the Turnpike and Brightline for people to more freely enjoy the attractions that Florida has to offer," Nicholas said.

On a Lilium Jet, passengers can get from West Palm to Tampa in one hour, to Orlando in 50 minutes and to Miami in 20 minutes.

"The route of Palm Beach to Miami, we anticipate it to be one of the busiest routes in the network," said Daniel Pinan, who heads Ferrovial's corporate development in North America.

Flights could be pricy, but that's to be expected with a new technology, Nicholas said.

More: County and Gardens warring over who gets transportation fees from developers

"We have aims to provide $1 per mile, meaning that a trip from here to Miami would be less than $100 per passenger, so that people can not only make this a daily commuting option but also something that they could use for a special occasion with a special someone or family," he said.

Although vertiports don't need to be located on airport property, as they take off and land on a space similar to a helipad. Palm Beach International has some real estate that would be ideal for this type of venture, said County Airports Director Laura Beebe. It's the space on the northeast corner of the airport's property that is used for rental car storage but isn't ideal for commercial development.

The companies noted that the venture could create about 150 jobs, in which the average salary is $70,000.

The airline industry also is taking chances on this new technology. United Airlines in February put up $1 billion for 200 jets from another eVOTL start-up company called Archer. The company hopes to build a similar network in Los Angeles by 2024.

hmorse@pbpost.com

@mannahhorse

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Hail a taxi to the sky? County commissioners signal interest in futuristic travel tech

___

(c)2021 The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

Visit The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.) at http://www.palmbeachpost.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Hail a Taxi to the Sky? Palm Beach County Commissioners Signal Interest in Futuristic Travel Tech - AviationPros.com

You might remember an intriguing story from earlier this year, when an investigative journalist discovered that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had been quietly buying up so much farmland that he now appears to own more of it than anybody else in America.

The story that the guy behind MS-DOS and Internet Explorer was going all in on agriculture raised eyebrows in the media, but we never got a satisfying answer about why the billionaire philanthropist was buying up all that farmland.

At least, that was the situation until this week, when Gates held yet another ask me anything meet-and-greet on Reddit, this time to promote his new book about climate change. During the AMA, one of the top questions cut right to the chase.

Hey Bill! a redditor wrote. Why are you buying so much farmland?

Gates answer was hard to follow.

My investment group chose to do this, he wrote. It is not connected to climate.

That sounds like a firm enough answer, but then the billionaire appeared to contradict himself,

The agriculture sector is important, he continued. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face.

Then he doubled down on the climate connection, speculating about whether biofuels could help cut down on engine emissions.

It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions, Gates wrote.

Whats the takeaway here? Unclear. Maybe Gates was trying to say that the farmland investments were purely financial, but that he sees ways that they could help the environment.

Or maybe he just likes sharing his opinions, even if they dont always add up.

READ MORE: Im Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. Ask Me Anything. [Reddit]

More on Bill Gates: Bill Gates and Richard Branson Invest in Lab-Grown Meat Startup

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Bill Gates Attempts to Explain Why He Bought More Farmland Than Anyone Else in America - Futurism

Hyundai says that the Staria is built for both families and businesses, and it'll be available in configurations ranging from two to 11 seats. In essence, it provides a glimpse of what Hyundai plans to offer with its future purpose-built vehicles.

So just why does the Staria look so radically different from everything else on the road? Hyundai says that's because it flip-flopped its design process, building the MPV from the inside out. The automaker realizes that vehicles are becoming much more appliance-like and decided to prioritize the design and space requirements of the consumer-facing cabin in order to appease passengers and maximize practicality.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the amenities found inside. The cockpit is driver-focused, starting with the digital instrument cluster that's aided by a large, 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system.

The Staria's seven-seater high-end trim will include a feature for second-row passengers that Hyundai calls "one-touch relaxation mode." At the press of a button, the second-row seats automatically recline to a posture that comfortably disperses the passenger's weight and helps to balance them. Buyers who opt for the nine-seater model are treated to swiveling second-row seats, giving passengers the opportunity to face the third row and provide a more personable environment. Other niceties like 64-color ambient lighting also help to make the MPV feel a bit more premium.

Read more from the original source:
The Futuristic Hyundai Staria Minivan Is What a People Hauler Should Be in 2021 - The Drive

"Clouds in the sky, gently passing overhead."Martian Storm

A stunning video that went viral over the weekend shows a fierce, dark cloud passing over a rocky landscape. But this isnt Arizona its the desolate surface of Mars.

The eight images were taken by NASAs Curiosity rover on March 19 and stitched together into a GIF by Paul Byrne, an associate professor of planetary science at North Carolina State. They show a dark cloud passing over a roughly 23 foot outcropping of layered sediment nicknamed Mount Mercou, in the planets Gale Crater.

The compressed layers of sediment as seen on the side of the outcropping are reminiscent of the layers found in the sides of dried up lake beds here on Earth, making the mount a particularly fascinating subject for Curiositys cameras.

Curiosity has been parked in front of Mount Mercou for some time now, waiting for its scientific instruments to make sense of its surroundings. Scientists are eager to find out more about the mosaics of the outcropping.

The textures and color variations in the cliff are mesmerizing and we are striving to understand them, Lucy Thompson, planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick, wrote in a March 19 mission log.

The clouds overhead are quite different than the ones we find here on Earth. Scientists believe space debris that hits the thin Martian atmosphere creates particles around which clouds can form. These clouds can drift to extremely high altitudes, anywhere up to 62 miles above the planets surface.

The clouds, believed to be mostly made of carbon dioxide, would only really be visible by the naked eye after sunset, when they reflect sunlight against the dark night sky.

READ MORE: Stunning video of Mars clouds shows its uncanny weather [Independent]

More on Curiosity: NASA Shows Off GIF of a Dust Devil on Mars

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Watch This Awesome Video of Clouds Drifting Across the Martian Sky - Futurism

A new vision for the long-term future of the East Midlands economy has been revealed today with new images which show how landmark sites could together deliver tens of thousands of new jobs and drive a futuristic recovery from the pandemic.

They show how three massive zones covering areas around East Midlands Airport, Toton Hub, and Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station might be transformed by major development which would boost growth to levels which drive large-scale job creation and unlock a new era of green growth for the regional economy.

The new images have been released as the region takes another step towards setting up the organisation which will help drive the visions progress and just two weeks after Chancellor Rishi Sunak backed the regions bid to host an inland freeport.

The five councils covered by the three zones have come together to fund an interim body which will begin the work of the planned East Midlands Development Corporation before parliament formally approves what will be a pioneering new model for upping the pace of regional growth.

The interim body will help masterplan and enable development, working with businesses, investors and universities to help get projects off the ground.

It has just submitted a Business Case to government which outlines what investment in the sites could deliver for the region: 84,000 jobs, more than 4.8bn in added value, and thousands of new homes.

The Business Case will be considered by government, which revealed in the Budget that the East Midlands had been chosen as the site of one of eight new Freeports in England.

The Development Corporation is one of the key projects of the Midlands Engine, the partnership of private and public sector sector organisations which works to promote investment and growth across the region.

Midlands Engine chairman Sir John Peace one of the regions most senior business figures has chaired the group which led development of the new body.

He said: What we have in front of us is one of the biggest opportunities the UK has ever seen to not just build on the potential of some major economic assets, but to transform the economy of an entire region in the process.

The sites themselves are collectively the size of three London Olympic Parks and the vision for their growth is both ambitious and futuristic, embracing our net zero future and unlocking new opportunities which range from international trade to community-level growth.

We must begin the work to unlock that potential now, and we start next month with the launch of the interim body.

The five councils initially backing the interim vehicle are Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire County Councils, together with Rushcliffe and Broxtowe Borough Councils, and North West Leicestershire District Council. Talks on how the model can be extended further into the East Midlands are continuing.

While the new Development Corporation requires Westminster approval, it will be locally-led and also supported by cash from local Business Rates giving the regions businesses a stake in its progress.

The Business Case submission to government throws a spotlight on the key role prominent regional economic assets like East Midlands Airport will play in driving economic growth. It is home to the UKs largest dedicated air freight handling operation.

By attracting ambitious, private-sector investment, the three sites will have the capacity to shift the dial of productivity for the regional economy. They are:

East Midlands Airport area: which supports the regions status as a centre for advanced manufacturing & research, and is a national and international logistics gateway which will be at the heart of the new Freeport zone Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station site: transforming part of the site of the UKs last coal-fired power stations into a national centre for carbon zero technologies and manufacturing innovations, which is also in the Freeport zone Toton & Chetwynd: creating a new, connected community which will centre on a Garden of Innovation and the proposed HS2 Hub Station.

Clare James, East Midlands Airports managing director, said: I welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with businesses and public sector bodies to help shape a future vision for this region and deliver economic growth and prosperity for people who live, work and study in this region.

When the region does well, so too does the airport and vice versa. Its therefore in all of our interests that the East Midlands prospers, and the airport, which is our doorway to the world, will continue to play a key role in this.

Elizabeth Fagan CBE, chair of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said: The Freeport has been a fantastic win for the region and we are now working with partners to deliver it at pace.

The proposed East Midlands Development Corporation will provide significant investments to accelerate and sustain our regions economic recovery and growth.

The East Midlands Chamber of Commerce represents 4,300 businesses across the region.

Its chief executive, Scott Knowles, said: The East Midlands economy now has in front of it a series of major opportunities which must play a decisive role in both the recovery of the region in the wake of the pandemic and in unlocking the commercial opportunities presented by our digital and carbon zero future.

Governments decision to award a freeport to the East Midlands is a huge vote of confidence in our prospects. The Development Corporation and the partnership behind it give us an additional opportunity to drive joined-up progress faster than ever before and to turn the region into the UKs investment destination of choice.

Its vital that the whole region now gets behind these opportunities and makes the most of their potential.

More here:
New images reveal vision of 'futuristic recovery' for East Midlands | TheBusinessDesk.com - The Business Desk

Turkish architecture firm Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS) has created a conceptual floating hotel for Qatar. The project includes a circular volume that floats on the Persian Gulf and is designed to slowly rotate over the course of a day. The massive hotel concept includes over 150 guest rooms connected to lush green spaces and interior waterfalls. On top of the unique and futuristic form, guests will have access to a wide range of building amenities like a spa, gym, mini-golf, and pools.

The design firm explains that it is now working on technical design elements to best introduce sustainable practices. Our team is working and studying with technical consultants and experts from different fields, explains HAADS. This project adopts the motto of minimum energy loss and zero waste as a principle according to the design approach it has put forward. Due to its characteristic moving feature, it generates electrical energy by rotating around its position according to the water flow and provides users with different perspective experiences.

Some of the current green building elements include the vortex in the center of the roof designed to collect rainwater that will be used for an irrigation system. Energy may be produced through solar panels, wind turbines, and a tidal energy system that works as the hotel rotates in the water. On top of all these goals, the designers also say that the hotel will work to purify and use seawater for their operations and that no waste produced by the hotel should impact the environment.

Though this project is branded as an eco-floating hotel, many designers might point out that a luxury hotel off the coast of Qatar is difficult to believe as a very green project. For more information about sustainable architecture and how a building's environmental impact is measured,read our article on LEED and other third-party certification systems as well as our piece on Declarea group of architects and engineers who have signed an agreement outlining the directives of truly green buildings.

Scroll down to see HAADS' conceptual hotel. For more projects by the studio, see My Modern Mets previous coverage of a twisting tower inspired by muscle fibers for the NYC skyline.

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This Architect Designed a Conceptual Eco-Floating Hotel in Qatar - My Modern Met

"The water table is sinking drastically in [the] UAE and the purpose of this is to try to help with rainfall."Rain Drop

The United Arab Emirates is about to test an unusual, high-tech way of triggering more rainfall: flying drones into clouds and zapping them with electricity to trigger showers.

Scientists from Englands University of Reading helped develop a series of drones that can fly up into existing clouds and alter water droplets electrical charge so they clump together like dry hair to a comb, Reading scientist Maarten Ambaum told the BBC. If it works, it could help replenish the faltering water supply around large cities like Dubai and usher in a new era of human control over weather.

Because the UAE already uses cloud seeding technology to induce condensation and create clouds in the first place, the zapping drones would give the country even greater control over the water cycle.

Equipped with a payload of electric-charge emission instruments and customized sensors, these drones will fly at low altitudes and deliver an electric charge to air molecules, which should encourage precipitation, UAE rain-enhancement science-research program director Alya Al-Mazroui told Arab News.

Weather modification systems arent without their controversy. Cloud seeding has been around for decades, but potential misuse of the technology has experts concerned about geopolitical ramifications, especially in China.

In this case, however, the weather-controlling tech has a clear use case of helping to provide water to large desert cities that risk depleting the water thats naturally available.

The water table is sinking drastically in [the] UAE and the purpose of this is to try to help with rainfall, Ambaum told the BBC.

READ MORE: UAE to test cloud-busting drones to boost rainfall [BBC News]

More on weather manipulation: A Bunch of US States Are Now Using Weather Modification Technology

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The UAE Is Using Drones to Manipulate Weather - Futurism